TH8 post Black Power

After finishing Black Power, I believe this book does an excellent job at explaining the fundamental reasons why whites are to blame for the continuous oppression of Blacks in almost every aspect of life.
There was a quote from the beginning of the book that resonated with me as I continued to finish up the book:
"Black people are not in a depressed condition because of some defect in their character. The colonial power structure clamped a boot of oppression on the neck of the black people and then, ironically, said "they are not ready for freedom." Left solely to the good will of the oppressor, the oppressed would never be ready. And no one accepts blame. And there is no "white power structure" doing it to them. And they are in that condition "because they are lazy and don't want to work." And this is not colonialism. And this is the land of opportunity, and the home of the free. And people should not become alienated. But people do become alienated." (Ture and Hamilton 23).
I selected this quote because Ture and Hamilton are straightforward in their analysis, placing blames on the true oppressors and pointing out some of the ridiculous claims that often come up in discussion of oppression. Although this was written in 1992, the ideas are still some that we struggle with today, such as accepting and acknowledging the white power structure. If we continue to disregard or ignore its existence, African-Americans will be continuously oppressed for centuries to come. It is time for the African-American community to unite in Ture&Hamilton's point of view, and to become the superior race that they can be. This brings me back to the idea in James Baldwin's book, with the idea of acknowledging that you are being oppressed for the color of your skin and for no other reason. In the section we read for today, Ture and Hamilton go into more detail about the oppression that comes with skin color, in terms of aspects that should be accessible and free to all:
"The core problem within the ghetto is the viscous circle created by the lack of decent housing, decent jobs and adequate education. The failure of these three fundamental institutions to work has led to alienation of the ghetto from the rest of the urban area as well as to deep political rifts between the two communities. In America we judge by the American standards, and by this yardstick we find that the black man lives in incredibly inadequate housing, shabby shelters that are dangerous to mental and physical health and to life itself."(Ture and Hamilton 155).
Moreover, the revolution that should take place to overcome items as these three would take time as we know, but I suspect it could and will be the greatest turn that our country has seen.

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